User Comments - bodawei
bodawei
Posted on: Football (Soccer)
July 31, 2009 at 10:08 PMHi Changye
In a game of 澳式橄榄球 (Rugby League) a few years ago a player got in big trouble for patting a referee on the head. In Australia we are big on irony. :-)
Posted on: Measure Words for Food
July 31, 2009 at 9:45 PM
份 fen - for a helping of meat or vegetables; eg. 一份茄子 yi fen qiezi (a plate of fried eggplant)
一桶水 yi tong shui, as in 我要买一桶水 wo yao mai yi tong shui (I would like to buy a large bottle of water)
顿 dun - meal, eg. 一顿饭 yi dun fan - a meal, so 吃顿便饭 chi dun bian fan (to eat casually, a homely meal)
堆 dui - for a pile, eg. 一堆零食 yi dui lingshi (a pile of snacks)
打 da - a dozen (eggs), eg. 一打鸡蛋 yi da jidan (a dozen eggs)
封 feng - for packets; eg. 一封饼干 yi feng binggan (a packet of biscuits)
股 gu - for a burst or a whiff, eg. 一股大蒜 yi gu da suan (a whiff ofgarlic)
Posted on: Are You Busy?
July 31, 2009 at 4:41 AMHi miantiao
I thought that was what you were saying, but is it a regional thing? I asked my daughter (who has lived in 成都 for a while) and she says she doesn't hear it. Maybe she is deaf like me.. and I alsways thought my problem was a combination of age and being male. :-)
Posted on: Are You Busy?
July 31, 2009 at 4:34 AM@changye
Thanks for the sayings about time - nice one. But I wonder if anyone actually says these things in Chinese? I find it difficult to discover whether we are just translating English or finding a legitimate saying in Chinese. I have a great guide to these questions - a look by Ouyang Yu 'Smell of an Oily Rag', but I have misplaced the book, or lent it to someone ... :-( It is a book I treasure (but obviously not enough), I will have to buy another. He matches up English sayings with genuine Chinese ones - or, rather, and more interestingly, points out the diametrically opposite message in many Chinese sayings!
I have probably mentioned this to you before.. forgive me if I repeat myself (sign of advancing age). And you would probably find it more interesting if it was a Japanese-Chinese kind of dialogue.
Posted on: Are You Busy?
July 30, 2009 at 10:56 PM@miantiao
thanks for the inspired translations mate
@light487
'how long?' can be 多久? or 多长时间?
& I think that miantioa is saying that people say 多少点？ when asking for the time even though it is not in the textbooks [I actually haven't heard this; I would say the more standard 几点钟？]
(but obviously that is different to 'how long?')
Posted on: Fast Cars and Dangerous Driving
July 30, 2009 at 1:30 PMHi Changye
我不一定飞机比火车还要安全， 火车的事故很少不过数量的人坐飞机旅行比火车旅行少。
别担心，可以走路阿！
Posted on: Are You Busy?
July 30, 2009 at 1:13 PM@patch17
In many contexts the words are interchangeable, but only 时间 can be used when talking of time as a concept. 光阴 guang1yin1 (time) also can be used when talking about time as a concept.
eg. of time as concept:
时间为了没有人等着 'time waits for no man (or woman).'
时间似箭 shi2jian1si4jian4 ('How time flies!')
[We both hope that someone will come along and correct my Chinese!]
Posted on: Fast Cars and Dangerous Driving
July 30, 2009 at 11:49 AM@changye
。。但是，你当然需要坐公共汽车，打的，等等，对吧。 我觉得在中国这条路上行人车辆太多了，交通很慢，不太危险。
Posted on: Measure Words for Food
August 1, 2009 at 3:45 AM@changye,pete
Thanks Changye for the corrections (I was being casual about the 茄子.. after all there is a pretty standard 茄子 dish - and I'd be a bit taken aback by a whole uncooked eggplant on a plate!) BTW, I realize that I should always check these with native speakers. I had a funny experience clarifying an obscure one and the person said: 'Oh, but that MW is only used by the Government officials!' [They were serious - I don't think that would qualify as a Chinese joke, but I thought it was funny.]
Pete - I love the run-down on fen - I'm going to find that hard to forget.
Now I gotta go; my wife is complaining that 'I'm on that bloody ChinesePod again'..really, she loves you too.